1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a camera support structure of a video presenter, and more particularly, to an improved camera support structure of a video presenter which can rotatably support a camera, and a video presenter adopting the camera support structure.
2. Description of the Related Art
In general, video presenters photograph an object by using a CCD camera and display the photographed object on a monitor, and are widely used for educational and industrial purposes. Typical video presenters can display a magnified image of a tiny object on the monitor by using a lens unit like a microscope lens coupled to a CCD camera which photographs the object. A variety of peripheral devices are included in such video presenters. For example, an apparatus for illuminating an object to improve sharpness of an image to be displayed through a monitor is additionally provided.
In such video presenters, a structure for supporting the CCD camera can be made to have a variety of shapes. A preferable support structure of the video presenter must allow access to an object at variety of angles so that the image of the photographed object is most effectively displayed. That is, such support structure of the video presenter has a degree of freedom with multi-axes. However, conventional video presenters have a limited degree of freedom and thus an angle of photographing an object is limited.
According to an example of the conventional technology, one or two support rods are fixedly installed at one side of the table where an object is placed and a camera head is fixed to an end portion of the support rod. According to this fixing manner, a camera can be stably maintained. However, if the object has a large volume or area, input of an image is inconvenient or limited.
In another example of the conventional technology, a support rod is installed to be inclined in a diagonal direction from one side of the table and a camera head is fixed to one end of the support rod. In this example, although the size of the table where an object is placed can be made small, accurate matching of a camera with the center of the table is difficult and a plurality of additional parts are needed to compensate therefor.
Japanese Patent Publication No. H 7-107377 discloses a video presenter having two support rods supporting a camera and rotatable by using joints. That is, a first support rod is rotatable with respect to a table and a second support rod while the second support rod is rotatable with respect to the first support rod and the camera. However, in this video presenter, the camera must be inconveniently separated and kept when the video presenter is not in use. Also, the first and second support rods are rotated only to the same direction. Thus, when the second support rod accesses the table, the second support rod is not appropriately folded onto the table due to the volume of the camera.
In the above Japanese patent, when the support rods are rotated, a lock button performing a locking operation must be involved. That is, a user must press the lock button to release the locking operation so as to rotate the support rods. Further, the camera may fall on a main body unless the camera or support rods are supported by a hand when the lock button is pressed. Thus, there is a possibility to cause damage to the main body and it is inconvenient to use.